Northern Star Deleted Scenes
by Hanna Sedai
Summary: Deleted scenes from my apprentice fic Northern Star. I decided to post them here instead of letting them rot away on my computer.
1. The Flying Graysons

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans.

**A/N: **Hello Internet! I have returned. This is just me writing some warm-up oneshots since I didn't really write any fanfiction this past month. This isn't a story, but here I'll be posting some deleted scenes from Northern Star. Scenes that were deleted, scenes as they were originally written, concepts that never made it to the final cut and random head canon scenes that I wrote for my own amusement will be posted here.

This first one happened before the events of Northern Star. Remember that I skipped ahead a few months. This is a flashback that I cut out. It deals with the day that Dick stopped wearing his mask and started allowing Slade to call him Dick.

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><p><strong>-DG-<strong>

Jump City, California

Slade's Haunt

Like every morning here at the Haunt, Dick found himself being shaken awake by Wintergreen.

When he opened his eyes found himself facing a blank white wall. Sometimes he woke up hoping that this whole apprenticeship was some horrible dream, but that was only wishful thinking. As soon as he was awake Wintergreen left the room. He probably had more important things to do than make sure that Dick left on time for training.

As Dick dressed he tried to remember what the date was. At first he didn't try to keep count of the days because he was sure that he would free himself in no time. He had been that optimistic, or perhaps arrogant was the correct word.

_It was my own arrogance that brought me down, _he thought glumly.

Once his initial defiance began to wear down he realized that he was ready for the Titans to come rescue him. He was ready for Batman to come rescue him. Still, every morning he woke up with the beginnings of an escape plan in his mind. By the end of the day he would come to the same unfortunate conclusion: it would never work. Slade had everything too figured out. The only weak point to Slade's blackmail was the fact that Slade never carried the controller around with him at all times.

He glanced at the tally marks he had made on the small space of walls behind the frame of his bed. He quickly counted the days and tried to come up with a date. His eyes widened in shock when his mind found one.

_Is it really…_he thought for a moment. Yes, it was the anniversary of his parents' deaths today. He collapsed back onto his unmade bed in astonishment. Had he really been here for so long? Somehow, the anniversary of his parents' deaths made everything seem more real. There was no way Slade would understand. He didn't expect Slade to understand and he had no intention of telling Slade what today was.

Well, he shouldn't stay here for too long or else Slade would get mad. Dick forced himself to stand up and make his bed. There was a military air about this place. Despite the fact that Slade was the villain here it seemed as though the Haunt was unnaturally clean. Sterile, almost. Dick didn't need anyone to tell him that Slade expected him to keep this room clean. It was an unspoken thing.

He picked up his mask and frowned at it. Slade already knew his secret identity. What would be the point of wearing it? Dick placed it back on his bedside table. Slade would make him take it off anyway. Up until this point he wore it as an act of defiance and to annoy Slade.

Today he just didn't care.

Dick walked out of his room and down the long, dark hallway towards the main room of Slade's haunt. He wondered vaguely what he had to do today. Then again, did it really matter? Even if he didn't want to learn how to break into banks or hack into White House security he would have to anyway.

_He's trying to manipulate me into doing everything he orders without question, _he thought unhappily. _He doesn't even have to use the trigger to control me. That's what makes this all the more infuriating. _

Dick didn't want the situation to become personal even though it already had. He understood just how precarious the situation was: even though Slade was capable of controlling him without the trigger he still felt the need to use it as a threat.

_I guess the real question is: do I want to be controlled by him with the Titans alive or the Titans dead? _

It was an unpleasant thought, but Dick found that he had too much time to dwell on such things. Besides, he wasn't sure what he would rather think about today: his current situation or the fact that today was the anniversary of his parents' death.

"You're not wearing your mask today," Slade said.

Dick didn't comment. He didn't want Slade to bring attention to the fact that he wasn't wearing his mask. But who was he kidding? Of course Slade would do that. Why wouldn't Slade do that?

"What? No backtalk today, Dick?" Slade shrugged. "Well, I'm not complaining."

Dick looked up at him, but said nothing. He didn't even say anything about Slade calling him by his real name. Usually, Dick would correct Slade and insist on being called Robin. But for the first time in years Dick felt as though the name was an insult. After all of the crimes Slade made him commit he didn't deserve to be called Robin anymore.

_Especially not today, _he thought, _Robin marked the beginning of my vigilante career with Batman. My parents never knew me as Robin. Only as Dick Grayson. _

He went through the motions, seemingly on auto-pilot all day. He demonstrated his insouciance by hardly speaking, his robotic answers to Slade's questions and his less-than-enthusiastic movements. After a few hours Slade began to get annoyed.

"Poor quality, Dick."

The younger man's eyes flickered upward, but still he said nothing. What else was Slade expecting? The insult didn't quite get through to Dick.

"When I ask you to do something I expect you to do it well. I shouldn't even have to tell you that."

"That was never part of the agreement."

Ah, now that made Slade mad, but Dick didn't care. Mere seconds after he spoke Dick knew that he was in trouble. Although he didn't feel like starting an argument he did feel the need to explain himself.

"I agreed to work for you, but I never said I would do it well."

He didn't speak with an angry, but rather a tired one. It wasn't that he was physically tired—but mentally so. It was because he knew that today was the anniversary of his parents' deaths. He hadn't even realized how long it had been since he had been blackmailed until he remembered what today was. Even though he felt as though this should make him fight back he just felt so tired. He was still angry at Slade, but for today he was tired of fighting.

A sudden punch to the face interrupted his thoughts. Dick stumbled backwards, his cheek stinging.

"What—?"

"Fight back."

Slade hit him again and again until Dick finally had enough. Dick's fist shot out as Slade goaded him into fighting back. They got into a scuffle that ended in a few seconds. For those few short seconds he felt angry enough to fight again. He actually tried to take his simmering anger out on Slade. He wanted to be away from here. He wanted to be in Gotham, to visit his parents' graves just once to say how sorry he was for getting himself into this mess.

"Had enough?" Slade asked.

Dick wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His anger faded as he looked away from Slade. The fight would only last as long as Dick wanted it to. Or unless Slade was severely pissed off.

"You started it."

"You don't listen well." Slade grabbed his arm and yanked Dick to his feet. "What's gotten into you today?"

Dick didn't answer. He didn't want to answer, but he also didn't want to make Slade angry. Today he felt like complete crap even without Slade's help. He felt as though he had failed his parents. He couldn't save himself. He couldn't get himself out of this situation and he was ready for Batman and the Titans to come help him. He couldn't do anything right. Dick forced himself to look up at Slade.

"This morning I realized that I won't ever win. You've won this battle, Slade. I accept that."

Perhaps it wasn't the best—or the most truthful—answer. But it was a safe answer that played to Slade's motives. Slade regarded him for a moment. To hear Dick accept his defeat was probably surprising, but again Dick didn't care. He just didn't want Slade to bother him anymore today.

"I'll say it again: everything you do I expect you to do well." Slade paused. "Even when you fight back."

Slade let go of him and turned to leave the room. Dick glowered at Slade's back. Usually, it was the other way around: he tried to annoy Slade because it was the only thing he could do nowadays. It annoyed him even more that he wasn't even allowed to passively go through this apprenticeship.

_I'm sorry, Mom and Dad, _he thought. _I shouldn't have gotten myself into this._

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><p><strong>AN: **Ultimately, the real reason why I decided not to add this is because I didn't want the story to get too angsty. I mean, yeah there's a lot of angst but if Dick starts bitching too much then I would want to slap him. Some of the other deleted scenes here were deleted because he started bitching too much and annoyed me. So what I would do is start out really angsty and then I would tone it down a bit.

There will be a few more. There aren't a lot of deleted scenes, but I said that I would post them.


	2. Huh?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans.

**A/N: **This is one idea I came up with but never used simply because it had no point. I think it's a super fun idea, but I cut it out because it didn't contribute too much to the plot. I probably could have put it in somehow but I didn't trust myself enough. If included, it would have been a rare humorous scene between Dick and Slade. Well, sort of humorous, I guess. I dunno. Feel free to correct my Spanish. I used Google translator for sentences I don't have the knowledge to write myself.

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><p><strong>-DG- <strong>

Jump City, California

Slade's Haunt

"Dick."

"What?"

"How many languages do you know?"

"Um…two, I guess. Well, it's more like one and a half."

That was an odd question. Dick wouldn't say that he was completely fluent in a second language, but he had working knowledge of Spanish.

_"Espa__ñol?_

"Yeah. Sure."

_ "No ingles." _

"Or else what, Slade?"

Slade smirked. "_Yo te__ dije que te voy a enseñar una variedad de habilidades. Aprender a matar no es la única cosa que necesita un mercenario a saber. Usted necesita aprender cómo mezclar pulg ¿Cómo darse cuenta de cosas que nadie más se dé cuenta. Usted aprenderá varios idiomas. No discuta._

Dick just looked at him blankly. He didn't quite understand all of what Slade said, but he understood enough. 

"I don't want to learn another language with you."

Slade told him not to argue, but why wouldn't Dick argue? Perhaps Slade thought that Dick couldn't fully understand him, so he switched back to English.

"I'm surprise you're not fluent in Spanish already. You live in California, so why don't you learn?"

"I was too busy hunting psychos like you down."

The trouble was that Dick couldn't really come up with a good reason _not _to do what Slade asked him to do now. Of course he understood that learning a second language was important. Of course he would like to be fluent in Spanish. Slade was just annoying him.

"I bet you can't do it."

Dick scowled. "Is that a challenge?"

"A challenge that you can't back down from, yes. Starting in thirty seconds we'll be speaking in Spanish. Then for the next twenty-four hours you will not speak English unless you want me to violently murder your friends."

"Bu-"

"_Sus treinta segundos están. Hablas español ahora." _

_ "Te odio." _

_ "__Oh, cállate__y__haz lo que te__dijo__.__" _

**(I was going to have one scene like the one above. Originally, that was going to foreshadow a future scene that I eventually rewrote. Slade was going to switch to Spanish or another language so that no one else would know that he was chewing Dick out. I decided not to do this because: I speak Spanish like Lieutenant Aldo Raines speaks Italian. So ultimately I decided no because I knew that there had to be a fluent Spanish speaker among my readers who would smack down my mediocre Spanish. Also, this kind of scene would play out better in comic strip form and readers who don't understand Spanish wouldn't get the bilingual dialog. Their banter won't be as fun without a translation, which I would not have given.) **

**Scene from chapter 24 as it was supposed to happen: **

Dick was sucked so completely into the game that he didn't even realize that Slade came by to watch. The smile on his face died quickly when he saw the expression on Slade's face.

"Slade—" Dick said, surprised. "What—"

_"Tenemos que__irnos ahora__.__"_

Startled at the sudden language switch, Dick realized that Slade didn't want anyone else to overhear their conversation. Was he really that paranoid?

_"¿Por qué?__¿Qué pasa?__"_

_ "__No discuta conmigo."_

_"Pero—" _

_"¿Qué acabo de__ decir? No tengo tiempo para su impertinencia. Mueve el culo en el coche o bien a sus amigos son tan buenos como muertos."_

Well, there was no arguing with that. Although Dick knew that Slade wouldn't hit him in front of all of these people, he could never be too careful. Some of the other people in the room were looking at them curiously. What if someone understood them? Slade just threatened his friends. He must be pissed about something. Dropping the paddle onto the table, Dick nodded once and began to follow. 

Jared made a motion of putting headphones on. He would be there tonight. Dick supposed that he would go talk to him tonight.

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><p><strong>AN: **

These are called deleted scenes for a reason. XD.


	3. Sleeping

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Teen Titans.

**A/N: **

Sorry for the delay! For those who didn't get the Tumblr/DA message I got a nasty Trojan that put my laptop out of commission for a few days. There are still a few issues that I need to work out since the virus seriously fudged up my laptop, but my programs are working again and the virus is gone.

However, since I wasn't really on the laptop for the past 3 days I re-read through Northern Star again on my kindle. Wow, it took me a while and I noticed mistakes in EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER.

…

YOU GUYS NEED TO TELL ME THESE THINGS. Ugh, now I want to go back and fix them all.

This scene was deleted for reasons discussed at the end.

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><p><strong>-SW- <strong>

Cabin

Rockies

Slade stepped back into the main room. It was getting late. Despite the late hour he saw Wintergreen sitting at the kitchen table still reading his book.

"Where is he?" Slade asked.

"He's sleeping," Wintergreen replied quietly.

Wintergreen turned and left the room. Sighing, Slade took off his mask and set it upon the table. After arguing with his contacts all over the country he felt mentally worn out. He ran a hand through his white hair and rubbed the back of his neck.

Slade bent to stoke the fire, slowly coaxing the dying embers back into flames. His back stiffened as he heard a slight noise behind him. He turned around and—to his great surprise—saw Dick curled up in a ball on the couch.

_When Will said that he was asleep I didn't realize…_Slade thought, his thoughts drifting away as he watched Dick sleep.

The kid was so quiet that Slade didn't even notice him. Dick must have been so tired from hunting that afternoon that he simply collapsed on the couch when he got back. Slade had other things to worry about and trusted that Wintergreen would take care of him. He honestly thought that he had been the only one left alone in the room.

His back was turned to Slade, but now that Slade noticed him he could hear Dick's steady breathing. Slade took a few steps towards him. Dick hadn't even taken off his shoes. There was some dirt on his cloths. He must have been _really _exhausted from today's hunting trip. Far more exhausted than he wanted to admit to Slade.

Even though Slade didn't comment much on this, he knew that Dick was also becoming mentally exhausted. The full weight of the situation seemed to be crashing down on him.

Slade hadn't really watched him sleep before. He knew that it was beyond creepy to do so anyway. Wintergreen must have found him here and decided to leave him alone without telling Slade. He felt a bit antsy since he was standing here without his mask on, but still he stayed there. What would happen if Slade decided to show Dick his true identity?

_Can I really trust him? _Slade thought. _Or have I just been deluding myself into thinking that I can make him blindly trust me? _

Dick's behavior was surprisingly good, but did Slade really expect him to be defiant forever? No, if Dick didn't accept this apprenticeship then Slade intended to wear him down, just as he was doing now. Slade always assumed that Dick would have to be the one who changed, but Wintergreen thought otherwise.

_What do I see him as? _Slade asked himself.

He hadn't given Dick a good answer. When Dick began asking him these rather personal questions Slade deliberately avoided giving him a direct answer. Although Slade told himself that he saw Dick only as an apprentice, he was beginning to question even that. Was he truly looking for a surrogate son in Dick? Looking down on him now, Slade saw Dick for what he really was at the moment: a child.

_He's just a kid, _Slade thought. _Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on him. _

Instead of waking him up Slade took a blanket and draped it over him. Dick fidgeted slightly from the sudden weight of the blanket. He opened his eyes wearily. A few seconds later his eyes snapped open when he saw Slade standing over him. Dick looked up at him, utterly speechless as he realized that Slade was unmasked. Slade, beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable, turned and walked away.

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><p><strong>AN: **

The main reason this was deleted was because…I was paranoid of the slashers. Ok, I've cracked a few slash jokes before so I know what tips off slashers. However, I do not like reading or writing slash so when I went to revise the chapter this was in I cut it.

I wanted another father/son scene thrown into the story, but after writing this and looking it over I just hesitated. This was the original ending to part 1 and the original way Slade was going to reveal his identity to Dick.

Review!


	4. Dick and Wintergreen

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anyone.

**A/N: **

Dlsky, I will answer your question here. Like I said before, I didn't realize how many people would ask me to turn Robin evil. While I knew how it would end I didn't seriously think about turning him evil until people mentioned it. I also had to think about how I wanted to characterize Slade. I could have easily made him a dynamic character, but I chose to allow him to remain static because that's his one major character flaw. He's stubborn. And he had no reason to change in the story since everything was going his way. He was in control. Dick, however, was not in control. His character changed out of necessity.

And having Dick turn evil is the most popular request. I'm sketching an outline. The only thing I'm worried about is that all my apprentice stories will be similar. D: I want to make them all different. An official summary of that story will appear online sometime within the next month.

This is the original conversation with Wintergreen after the events of chapter 26 (the beatdown chapter). I actually fleshed out the conversation and added a lot to this because I wanted to. More about this at the end.

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><p><strong>-DG- <strong>

Cabin

Rockies

He guessed that he was sort of glad to see Wintergreen instead of Slade. Dick didn't know. Truthfully, he would have rather not seen either of them. However, considering his present condition and mental state he was relieved not see Slade.

"Wintergreen," Dick said, not looking at the butler, "I don't know if I can take this anymore."

His words sounded slightly slurred to his ears. Dick didn't feel completely awake. The aftereffects of the anesthesia made him feel groggy. He mumbled a few more words to himself. Wintergreen ignored his mumblings as he replaced Dick's gauzes, which were caked with dried blood.

"Wintergreen…"

The butler looked up from his work as Dick mumbled his name again. Dick searched for the right words to say to him. What could he say to him? However, it seemed as though Wintergreen sensed that Dick was trying to say something to him.

"What are you trying to get at, Richard?"

"I can't…I can't…"

Despite his injuries, Dick caught hold of Wintergreen's shirt and clung to him like a drowning man clinging to a life raft.

"Wintergreen…" Dick said, his tone desperate, "please…help me…"

Last night had been his breaking point. All thoughts of doing anything to help himself had evaporated. In his semi-drugged and weak state, Dick didn't know what else to do. He didn't know who else he could turn to for help. Even though Wintergreen had failed to stand up for him the night before he was the only person Dick could turn to aside from Slade. With a soft sigh, Wintergreen took Dick's hands and—as gently as he could—detached himself.

"You can only help yourself," he said, "and you know that I'm not going to help you run away, so why are you even bothering to ask?"

Dick fell back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling. "Why not ask? What else do I have left to lose?"

Slade had already threatened the Titans. He had already hurt them and he had already hurt Dick. He had never before considered Wintergreen an ally, but now that all of his other options were moot, what else could he do?

Wintergreen looked to the side and said nothing. He was just a butler, but he was also a human being. He knew Slade better than anyone else and had enough morals to try to stop Dick's beatdown last night. While Dick had been surprised that Wintergreen stood up for him last night, he still couldn't help but feel as though Wintergreen betrayed him by not following through.

"You know this is wrong. This is all wrong." Dick had to keep telling himself that this was all wrong. It was the only way he could keep himself sane. "Why did you stand up for me? Why didn't you stop him?"

Wintergreen stood there in silence, considering him. At first Dick thought that Wintergreen would leave the room and not answer his questions. Then, to Dick's astonishment, he pulled up a chair and sat down next to Dick.

"Once, a lifetime ago, I was beaten down too. I was a prisoner-of-war. I know what it's like..." He began to rub his temple. "I tried to stop him because it would have helped both of you get along."

"I don't want to get along with hi—"

"Richard," Wintergreen said firmly, "look at me."

There was a strong hint of authority in his words. Dick lifted his gaze from the floor to Wintergreen's face. There wasn't a hint of sympathy in Wintergreen's face. He wasn't like Alfred in the sense that he would offer a hug and a cup of hot chocolate to make one feel better, but he was trying to help all the same.

"Slade's going to come in here in a few minutes."

"No—"

"Richard, there's nothing you can do about it. I'm not here to listen to you whine. You're going to have to face him sooner or later."

There was something about the way Wintergreen kept repeating his name that made Dick listen. As a child he would never be called "Richard" unless he was in trouble. He couldn't shake off the feeling that Wintergreen was lecturing him, even though he really wasn't. When Dick didn't reply Wintergreen spoke again.

"I know it's hard to face your captor after a beating like that," he said, "but you have to man up and talk to him."

Wintergreen's choice of words surprised Dick. His bluntness was also surprising. Why, after all this time, would Wintergreen refer to Slade as Dick's "captor"? Wouldn't he go along with Slade and say that Slade was Dick's "master"? Dick looked up at Wintergreen, surprise etched on his young face. For the briefest of moments Dick saw real empathy on Wintergreen's face.

_He said that he used to be a prisoner-of-war, _Dick thought. _Is it the same? Is it really? _

Dick didn't know. All at once he felt confused and helpless and overwhelmed. If Wintergreen really understood, i f he truly empathized with Dick, then he would help him escape. But Wintergreen wouldn't. He would only help Slade achieve his goals, yet he cared enough to give Dick some advice.

Tears began to obscure Dick's vision as he nodded curtly, unable to speak. Dick gripped his bed-sheets so hard that his knuckles turned white. Wintergreen stood up as soon as he heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway.

"You shouldn't be afraid," Wintergreen said, "as you said yourself: what else do you have left to lose?"

And with those words, Wintergreen turned to open the door to let Slade in. The old butler didn't even look at Dick as he slid out of the room. Slade then sat down in the chair that Wintergreen had occupied mere seconds before.

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><p><strong>AN: **For the actual chapter I toned down their conversation to just a few lines of dialog. The reason this didn't appear was because I realized that I needed Dick to be completely shell-shocked. If the events of chapter 28 didn't happen, or had happened later, then this conversation would have appeared. I really thought hard about how one would react to such a vicious beatdown. Dick needed to be so shell-shocked that he wouldn't even talk/be extremely submissive so that it would come as a surprise when Dick snaps and shoots Slade. So, to build up to this extreme shell-shock I put the majority of the violence in chapter 26. That's why parts 1 and 2 were a bit slow and had a lot of conversation. Also, another reason why I wanted him to be quiet is because he doesn't want to allow anyone else an opportunity to mess with his head again.

Anyway, I took the original deleted scene and fleshed this out a lot just for the kicks. In retrospect, I wish that I spent more time examining the Dick/Wintergreen relationship. I think it's fascinating because Wintergreen also has the potential to be a complex character with an ambiguous world-view. In future apprentice stories I will probably write scenes more like this one.

Thoughts? Also, would you guys like a break-down of the Bruce/Dick hug scene and how I wrote it? Might as well keep going with the "behind-the-scenes" thing I have going on here.


	5. HUGGGGGGG!

**Disclaimer: **Nope. Don't own Teen Titans.

**A/N: **will be scattered throughout this chapter. LOL, I hope no one reports this since this isn't really a story and more of an extended author's notes.

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><p><strong>A breakdown of the hug scene from chapter 31. The original scene as is: <strong>

Bruce regretted having Dick come out here. It pained him to see Dick acting so skittish. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Bruce's hatred for Slade began to intensify. Had the mercenary beaten all of the fight out of him? Dick forced himself to look up at Bruce.

"Bruce…" He sounded so much older. His voice had deepened. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for ever—"

Without waiting for Dick to finish Bruce wrapped him in a tight hug.

"Shut up," Bruce said in a choked voice.

For a few seconds he thought that Dick would reject his hug, but Dick stopped babbling as he hugged back. Once again he was the eight-year-old child, lost in the world when he saw his parents murdered. No words were spoken between them. No words were needed.

**Like everything else I write, whether it be college essays or news articles or stories, I don't write in chronological order. What I do is I find a "bright idea" (as my professor says) and I "accumulate data" and commentary around that bright idea. When writing out a scene I think about what the purpose is behind it. How will it propel the story forward regarding character development or the plotline? **

**So, for this scene, I thought about what emotions were needed. What would they say to each other after everything that's happened? First, I thought about what Bruce would say: **

"Shut up."

**I wrote the entire hug scene around those two words. Sometimes just one or two words of dialog are needed. So, after I figured out what Bruce would say I needed to figure out what Dick would say before that. **

"Bruce…" He sounded so much older. His voice had deepened. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for every—"

"Shut up," Bruce said in a choked voice.

**Why have it this way? Context is important. Slade can say "shut up" but when Slade says it, he really wants you to shut up. What I wanted to convey with Bruce's words was that Bruce didn't want to or needed to hear Dick's explanation. I felt that Dick would feel extremely guilty and would try to explain himself to Bruce because he feels as though he failed his mentor. Bruce however, unconditionally loves Dick. Saying "shut up" is just Bruce's way of expressing that. **

**Thus: **

"Bruce…" He sounded so much older. His voice had deepened. **(little details always make an imaginary world seem more real)** "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for ever—"

Without waiting for Dick to finish Bruce wrapped him in a tight hug.

"Shut up," Bruce said in a choked voice.

**Ok, so I think I'm desensitized to violence, so writing chapter 26 didn't make me cry, but stuff like this does. Character relationships are very important. **

**Even at this point there was still a chance that Dick could turn evil. If I made Bruce say something else, then Dick could have easily gone off and not trust Bruce anymore. But I didn't and had Dick accept the hug. **

For a few seconds he thought that Dick would reject his hug, but Dick stopped babbling as he hugged back. Once again he was the eight-year-old child, lost in the world when he saw his parents murdered. No words were spoken between them. No words were needed.

**Actions speak louder than words. If I were Dick I wouldn't want to talk right away. I'd just want someone to hug me, to love me unconditionally regardless of what I've been forced to do. Slade would hug his real son, but he wouldn't hug Dick because, in a way, he still thinks of Dick as nothing more than a valuable investment. Bruce did not look to adopt Dick as his ward just to train a sidekick as Slade tried to do. This fatherly hug is something that only Bruce (or Alfred) can give Dick, and after all Dick's been through he needs a hug. **

**Remember, I don't write in order. This, along with the beatdown chapter, was the crux of the story. It's all about the father-son crap for me. I guess for those people who keep asking me about writing these kinds of fics: think about what you want to convey in a story. Yes, the beatdown scenes were fun to write, but overall there is a father-son theme. That's the angle I was writing with. Stories should carry not only an intriguing plot but also engaging character/emotional arcs. **

**Next up is a deleted scene that I meant to post earlier: a deleted Jared Holden POV. **


End file.
